Bags Across the Globe now at UC Davis
On Sunday, January 23rd, the exhibit Bags Across the Globe, or BAG for short, opened at the UC Davis Design Museum. Ann Savageau, the creator, gave a presentation about BAG to kick off the installation. The installation is open to the public until March 11.
BAG is a program that takes textile waste from UC Davis and converts it into reusable bags. Each person who participates receives 2 bags, one to keep and one to give to a friend. In return the participant had to send a photo of them and their bag, in an email to Savageau.
Savageau, a professor of design at UC Davis, launched BAG in June 2008 after being inspired by a textiles class she teaches that focuses on sustainability, and a teach-in that occurred in January 2008. Her goals were to divert waste from landfills, to inspire others to start their own bag projects, and to engage UCD students in a sustainable, “real world” design project.
Bricolage, a French word meaning finding creative ways to repurpose things, is a core principle of Savageau’s BAG program. She says out not too distant ancestor used to be in the habit of repurposing everything they could, and that today’s society has lost that valuable practice. Savageau wants the world to eliminate the word “waste” from our vocabulary, she says “nature has no waste and neither should we”.
Savageau started the presentation with a brief history of the shopping bag. Humans have had bag like structures for many centuries. The plastic bag we know today replaced reusable bags in one generation! Today’s plastic bags are a major played in global pollution. The United States alone consumes 100 billion plastic bags every year! These bags wind up flying in the wind, usually into some waterway, and eventually into the ocean where sea turtles, whales, sea birds and other marine life consume them, and can die from suffocation or starvation. Meanwhile, the US throws away 23.8 billion pounds of textiles every, 95% of which is reusable and could be made into bags!
A portion of the presentation was about an innovative, sustainable business, Conserve India. Conserve India hires members of India’s lowest caste to collect trash which they then turn into bags. Savageau called Conserve India a business that meets the triple bottom line: ecology, economy, and equity whereas most businesses only meet the single bottom line: profit. Conserve India and businesses like it are not only about making profit but also about promoting an exchange of information, ideas, and energy about an idea as well as collaboration to bring about cultural and environmental change.
Organizations around the world have been inspired by BAG to take on their own reusable bag projects. These organizations often send Savageau picture of their bag projects and letters thanking her for her inspiring work. Savageau has aided what appears to be a growing global movement of sustainability and repurposing.
Love the article and the bags, but can someone come up with a really creative way to help me remember to take the reusable bags into the store with me??
You could make a fun, brightly colored sign to put on the inside of your front door, or your car that says “Got Bags?”